Robert crawford



(No Model.)

B. CRAWFORD IRONING 0R GALENDERING MACHINE. No. 397,586. Patented Feb. 12, 1889.

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NNITED STATES ROBERT CRAWFORD, OF BELFAST, IRELAND.

laonlne OR CALENDERING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,586, dated February 12, 1889.

Application filed July 11, 1888. Serial No. 279,686. (No model.) Patented in England December '7, 1887, No. 16,836.

To coZZ whom it may cow/c0772.:

Be it known that I, ROBERT CRAWFORD, hem-stitcher and finisher, of 12 Alfred Street, in the borough of Belfast and county of Antrim, in Ireland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ironing or Calendering Machines; and I do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, the said invention havii'ig been patented in Great Britain December 7, 1987, Patent No. 16,836.

The object. of this invention is to provide a machine for the calendering or smoothing of handkerchicfs, collars, cuffs, and other laundry work, which machine is also applicable for the ordinary purposes of calenders as now commonly employed. For these purposes I employ a roller or cylinder the surface of which is spirally grooved to form depressions which carry air to the fabric being pressed to facilitate the cva mratiou of the moisture contained therein, and so arranged that the pressing-surf aces are divergent from the center of the cylinder, in order to effect a stretching of the fabric duringthc pressing operation and to prevent creases or unevenness therein. Ialso employ a table traveling, preferably, at a slower speed than the roller or cylinder to carry the fabric under it, and actuated by any suitable means. This table moves on slide-lm'rs fixed in a frame which is adapted to have imp:1rted to it a risingandfalling motion, preferably by means of linked eccentrics and levers. The frame is lowered in order to allow the table to return after carrying the fabric under the roller or cylinder without touching the latter. The specific driving devices by which the rollers are given their motion and the table moved do not enter into this invention, since they may be worked by hand as well as by machinery. I will not, therefore, givea description or illus trate any mechanism for c ffecti n g these movements.

In the drawings, wherein my invention is illustratml, Figure .l is a sectional elevation of part of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan showing the parts represented in Fig. l.

a a are the revolving rollers or cylinders, which are shown as spirally grooved, the grooves being inclined in opposite directions from the center of the rollers, as hereinbefore stated. Below these rollers is mounted the table, which is arranged to slide upon the bars 0, carried by the rising-and-falling frame (1 The rising and falling motions are given to this frame by the eccentrics c c, upon which it is supported, and which are connected so as to move synchronmlsly bythc arms g and link f.

The number of rollers employed need not be limited to two, as shown in the drawings, but may be more or less, as the character of the work demands. The speeds at which the various moving parts of the apparatus are moved is likewise governed by the kind of work being performed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- An ironing orcalemlering machine having a pressing roller or cylinder with its surface grooved, substantially as described, whereby there are formed continuouspressingsnrfaces arranged spirally around the cylinder and divergent from the center thereof, whereby the article being operated upon is both stretched and pressed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT CRAIVIORD.

\Vitn csses:

J NO. M. savnon, JOHN D. CooKE. 

